


Sorceress

by RenkonNairu



Series: Eternia's Dark Mirror (is brighter than you think) [2]
Category: He-Man and the Masters of the Multiverse (Comic), He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Anti-Eternia, Background Poly, Eternia's Dark Mirror, Gen, Keldor!He-Man, Masters of the Multiverse (comic), feelings are doing most of the punching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:26:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26854426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenkonNairu/pseuds/RenkonNairu
Summary: Based off the "Masters of the Multiverse" comic by DC and taking place in the Anti-Eternia universe.Teela has been cleansed of the corruption from anti-Truth and she's trying to resume what passes for a normal life in Eternos. But things can't go back to the way they were and Teela finds that she no longer has a place among the Heroic Warriors. Perhaps she's meant for another role...
Relationships: Keldor (He-Man)/Beastman/Evil-lyn, Teela & Sorceress of Castle Greyskull | Zoar the Falcon, Teela & her self, Teela (He-Man) & Keldor (He-Man)
Series: Eternia's Dark Mirror (is brighter than you think) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1959025
Comments: 6
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

**-During the Yeas-Long War-**

Trap Jaw and Tri-Klops had her in chains, but they were only barely managing to contain the raw power that was Anti-Teela. She pulled against her restraints, threatening to pull out of the hold of the Heroic Warriors all together. 

King Randor stood before her. His aura in waves of red and yellow, the colors of a courageous heart and a natural-born leader. The lifeforces of powerful warriors and inspirational rules always tasted better than frightened villagers, or anxious lakies. Teela wanted to eat him too! 

“Come closer!” She shouted at the King, pulling as hard as she could against the chains that held her. “I haven’t had my fill yet!”

Behind her, both Trap Jaw and Tri-Klops pulled back on her chains and dug their heels in. Leveraging the combined weight of both their bodies to try and hold her back and away from their King. 

“When we found her in the Widget Village, she’d already –ahm- eaten thee of them.” Tri-Klops tried to explain to his King. 

“Poor li’l guys…” Lamented Trap Jaw. 

A guttural roar issuing up from her throat, Teela yanked on her chains again. She didn’t care about their reports, or those chewy and tasteless villagers. They had brought her before a King, and she wanted to feast on a King! 

Then the King’s brother swaggered up and Randor was forgotten. 

“Captain Teela in undisputer Eternos territory!” Keldor smirked, shrugging his shoulders, and throwin his arms open wide to indicate the city around them. 

Keldor looked like a far more delicious morsel than Randor. His aura was the magenta of a crative type, and he was, Keldor was an artist. But the color was deeper on him, the magenta of not just a creative type, but an eccentric, an innovator, and a rebel. The edges were dimmed by the gray of one without a purpose who was dipping into complacency. But that was not what made Prince Keldor so apatizing. 

Permiating his whole aura, radiating out from his core, were the indigo rays of destiny. 

Keldor was not a natural-born leader, nor did he posess the courageous heart of a warrior like his brother. But the fates, or the gods, or some power of the universe had bestowed a destiny on him. A destiny he was yet to fulfill. That was what made him so apatizing. 

To feast on the power of destiny… Anti-Teela began salivating just looking at his delicious indigo aura. 

Teela had always been able to see more in a person than they saw in them sleves. It was, actually, one of the things that made her such a capable warrior. Being able to read her opponent. It wasn’t always fullproof, but it was there. 

After Adam showed her the Orb of Horrors, and she gazed into its depths, the knowlage of anti-Truth was bestowed upon her, and her Sight (for lack of a better word) became so much clearer. More intense, more detailed. Not just feelings and impressions, but colors, and patterns, and rays. And she knew their meanings. Knew when someone was filled with power, either natural or unnatural. 

Keldor was filled with power. 

Or, more accuretly, the potential for power. 

Her lips pulled into an imposter of a smile. 

“Keldor, oh, my Prince.” She taunted him. 

Teela had been to the bowels of Castle Hellskull, and peered into the depths of the Orb of Horros. It showed her, not only the secrets of her own universe, but of universes beyond. A macrocosm of worlds, all existing apart from one another, but parallel to each other. A multiverse, if you will. And thanks to this knowlage of the multiverse, she knew. Teela knew what that touch of destiny in his aura meant. What it would bring. 

“I have peered into infinite universes!” She announced, attention focused only on Keldor. “In every one of those worlds, it is you who is the ultimate Lord of Destruction, Keldor!”

“Silence her!” Tri-Klops growled. 

“I’m trying.” Trap Jaw groaned.

Juggling the chains and Teela, they tried to drag her away, but she pulled against them even harder. 

“It’s inevitable, Prince!” She shouted back at Keldor. “You will be tempted and you will be tested! And all who see you will know the face of death!”

Finally, Randor’s Heroic Warriors succeeded in dragging her away. 

They dumped her at the border between Eternos Territory and the Dark Quarter. Letting Teela make her way back to Castle Hellskull and her beloved Anti-He-Man on her own. 

…

**-Present-**

Teela didn’t exacly ‘wake up’ so much as she groaned, rolled over, and put the pillow over her head. 

Another dream of her time spent terrorizing Eternia as one of Anti-He-Man’s most prolific followers. It was a dream she knew was a memory. She remembered everything she did as Anti-Teela. She remembered, and she hated it. Hated herself. Words could not even describe the sheer level and weight of remorse that she felt every day when she woke up. Home again in her old room in the palace of Eternos, and knew that countless innocent people across the planet would never wake up again. Becaue of her. 

Emotions weiging her down more than anything physical could, Teela was sluggish and groggy getting out of bed. 

The servants were slow in arriving to make the bed and bring her her breakfast. The servants were always slow to approach her these days. Most of them had been within Eternos’ undisputed territory for most of the war, so they never saw Anti-Teela first hand. Only heard aobut it through stories. Even so, they were skittish and guarded around her. 

Teela had already dressed and made her own bed by the time a maid entered with a tray bearing her breakfast. 

“Fried steak and scrambled eggs today, Capt- uh, Miss Teela.” Announced the maid.

That was another thing. Her rank and position as a captain in the palace guard no longer existed. Once she was the personal body guard of Prince Adam, King Randor’s son. But Adam never returned after Anti-He-Man was excorsized of evil. Without a Prince to protect, there was no need for a bodyguard. There was no vacancy for her to fill. No place for her to feel like she belonged and like she was wanted. 

Her father, Duncan, was given his old position as Man-at-Arms back. But Duncan was King Randor’s friend. They had grown up together. Randor was actually closer to Duncan than he was with his own brother, Prince Keldor. Of course the King was going to make space for his childhood best friend. What was a little attempted murder and war crimes between old frineds? Water under a bridge. 

But Duncan’s adopted daughter Teela was not given the same preferential treatment. 

Because she was her father’s daughter, and her father was friends with the King, Teela was given her old room in the palace back, and she was allowed to rejoin the palace guard. But she was not given back her old rank and status as an officer. She was a grunt soldier again. 

But she was a good soldier. She would fulfill her duties as they were assigned to her, take orders, and remind everone in Eternos why she was able to make Captain at such a young age. Then she would work her way up the ladder to reclaim the rank of Captain again. 

With this goal in mind, Teela sat down to her breakfast. 

Her stomach turned the moment she cut into her meat. 

The blade sliding through the fried steak, cutting into the flesh and letting the juices drip out reminded her too much of the things she did as Anti-Teela. Of how she- she ate people. People were no different than game beast, or cattle to her. And she ate them like cattle. 

Feeling her bile rise in her throat, Teela pushed the tray away. It was not the first time since she was excorsied of evil and returned to Eternos that she couldn’t eat a meal, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. At some point she would either have to get over it, or else speak to someone in the kitchens about switching her over to a strictly vegetarian diet. 

For now, she would just get a piece of fruit or something on her way to guard duty. 

Being back from a years-long rampage of the planet was an adjustment. But Teela would adjust. Somethings would just take more time than others. 

Teela was sure she had a place. She just had to find it. 

…

It was still very early in the morning, the sun just barely climbing over the city buildings, and a light mist covered the ground. 

Now instead of guarding a Prince, Teela’s duty was guarding the walls. 

After snagging an apple from the kitchens for her breakfast, she reported to her post on the outer wall, second level. Facing out, holding her serpernt staff in one hand, Teela planted her feet and settled in for a long day of standing and doing nothing more than watching people pass by outside. 

It was a little early for there to be many people out. 

There was the dairy cart making deliveries. Smoke rose from a number of bakeries. A few adults flitted from shop to shop getting early morning groceries. But for the most part, the city was still quiet. There wasn’t even enough traffic to bring anyone close to the palace. 

Except for one. 

In that shadow of an ally. Blue skined, and wearing a purple tunic, with a whilte hood pulled up over his head to hide his face. Teela might not have seen him, dressed as darkly as he was, if it weren’t for what he was doing. 

Painting. 

With bright colors. 

Using magic to levitate and move multiple cans of spray paint, and composing a mural that –while still unfinished- looked to be a depiction of some kind of clash between opposing forces. 

One side was rendered in primarily back and red, with just a little white for accents and shading. It showed a figure, stylized with sharp lines and high contrast, that looked like it might have been Anti-He-Man. While the other half of the mural was bright blues and white, with just a bit of black for accents and shading. Another figure, this one drawn in a softer style, fewer sharp angles and hard lines. The second figure looked like the new He-Man. The Gar He-Man that had only just shown up recently. The two He-Men clashing in a battle of power and will. 

He’d been working on it for several nights, and during her morning guard duties, Teela had watched it transform from just a rough sketch on stone, to a full fledged mural with colors and depth. It really was a work of art. It was a shame the artist felt the need to hide it. Painting it in a dark ally instead of an open street or another place where more people might see it. 

But then, Teela knew who the artist was and knew that his older brother would disspprove. 

Randor disapproved of a great many things. More than he used to disapprove of before Anti-He-Man. And there was nothing he disapproved of more than his younger brother. Prince Keldor. 

Finally noting that the sun was coming up, just the slightest orange glow of sunlight penetrating the ally to shine on his mural, Keldor lifted his head and took note of the time. He lowered his hood to chance a glance at the sky, then the palace, and Teela got a clear view of his face. 

Half of Prince Keldor’s face looked as it always had. Blue skin, a straight nose, dimpled cheeks, and full lips with just the slightest hint of a cupid’s bow. A handsom face by the standards of most races. Keldor’s bi-racial features, both human and Gar, came together quite favorably. 

But the other half of his face was not quite so attractive anymore. The other half of his face was practically gone. The jewel blue skin, muscle, and soft tissue scrapped away. Leaving only pale, slightly yellowish bone in it’s place. Not even an eyeball to fill the socket. The other half of Keldor’s face was his bare skull, with a skeleton grin, and a single empty and infinitly black eye-socket. A ‘face of death’. 

She rememberd that, while Keldor appeared to be nothing more than a lazy and complacent royal, just a useless son of the former King left over without a purpose, he was more than that. Had to be more than that. Because his aura had a touch of destiny to it. She, herself, had prophesised that destiny. To become the ‘Lord of Destruction’, as she had seen in all the other worlds the Orb of Horrors showed her. To become the vile villain known as ‘Skeletor’. 

The odd thing was, for a supposed ‘Lord of Destruction’ Keldor seemed to do an awful lot of creating instead. 

He didn’t build houses, replant forests, sew crops, or anything like that. But he was an artist. He was still a creator. The city sported more than one of his murals. 

Watching him pack up his cans of paint and hop on the back of his Dylinx, Pathor, Teela did the funny little mental sidestep that shifted her vision. Instead of seeing him as he was on the physical plane, she instead look at him as he appeared in the aether of the universe. At his energy. Seeing his aura. 

He still mostly carried the magenta of creativity with a level of mischiviousness, but there were new colors to it now. Waves of pink, implying a new depth of feeling and understanding in him, compassion, empathy, and love. Speckles of blue, the color of wisdom, healing, and calm. The gray edging was gone with his self-doubt. But the indigo of destiny was still there. Only, while before it had been rays emenating from his core, as if reaching out to be grasped and realized, the glow of destiny was now a corona that surrounded him, enveloped him. The halo of a destiny realized. 

But, if Keldor’s destiny was not to become Skeletor, Lord of Destrution, then what had he become? 

Teela sighed, allowing her Sight to return to normal. Whatever was going on with Prince Keldor and his touch of destiny was no business of hers. All she needed to focus on was performing her duties, being a good soldier, and proving to her superiors –and to herself- that she still belonged among the Heroic Warriors.


	2. Chapter 2

Carrying his boots in his hands so that his steps fell softer on the stone floors, Keldor snuck back to his own chambers and into his own bed. 

Which was currently occupied by his lovers, Evelyn Powers and Red Beast. 

Measuring his movements and maneuvering carefully so as to try not to wake either of them, Keldor slipped back under the sheets between them. He had just settled his head on the pillow, eyes closed, a contented sigh issuing from between his lips when he was startled back awake. 

Red Beast sniffed in his sleep, then jerked awake next to him. “What smells like acetone and arisole?”

He climbed out of bed, still half asleep, but alarmed by the chemical smell. Was there a spill somewhere in Eternos? Were they under attack? Some new chemical weapon, not magic based, that the forces of Anti-He-Man had sent to kill them all!? Anti-He-Man’s defeat was still fresh and new enough that not everyone was used to the idea that they were safe and nothing was wrong. 

“Lyn! Keldor! Wake up!” He barked at them, already slipping on his loincloth and armor, ready for a fight. All the while, his nose continued to twitch, trying to find the source of the offending chemical scent. 

Not even bothering to lift his head, Keldor groaned. “It’s fine, Red. Nothing’s wrong. It’s just me.”

Still in bed next to him, Evelyn sat up. Groggy and sluggish, she ran a hand through her hair and glared at Keldor. “Did you go out graffiting the city again?”

“It’s not graffiti, it’s art!” Keldor insisted. “And so what if I did?”

Lyn flopped back down on her pillow and pulled he blankets over her head. “You’re gonna regret staying out all night when my alarm goes off in an hour and I drag you out of bed to start the day.”

She was back asleep before Keldor could offer an argument. Not that she’d entertain an argument from him. Even before they were lovers, Lyn had little patience for his arguments and excuses. When she decided it was time to wake up and start the day, she would drag him out of bed. By force if necessary, and make him start his day too. The fact that he was out all night and got no sleep at all be damned. 

Keldor rolled over in bed, his back to her and reached a hand out to Red Beast. “Red, come back to bed. I wanna cuddle.”

Red’s nostrils flared as he unconsciously sniffed one more time. “Not while you smell like that.” He announced. “I think I’ll get in a few rounds with the guards in the training circle.”

He was already dressed anyway, might as well start his day a little early. Red Beast left the room. 

Keldor pulled the blankets up over his head to block out the sunlight streaming in through the window, and fell asleep for the first time that night-day. 

As she promised, Lyn prodded him out of bed when her own alarm woke her up for the regular start of her day. 

Keldor groaned and protested. He hadn’t gotten any sleep at all last night. One hour of sleep was not enough! He was a Prince, he should be allowed to sleep in. He was a hero, he needed his rest. I don’ wanna!

Then Lyn grabbed him by the ankles and dragged him out of bed. 

He hit the floor with an uncomfortable ‘OOF’, giving him a short burst of adrenaline that woke him up fully. Keldor rubbed his eyes, trying to clear the tiredness from them, and groaned. “Pulling all nighters was so much easier back when I could do coke.”

“Yeah, well trying to teach you magic was harder.” Lyn shot back, unsympathetic. Letting go of his ankle, she grabbed his arm instead and dragged Keldor to his feet. “C’mon. I want you to take me to Castle Hellskull today. There’s got to be something there that outlines all this He-Man stuff. Your powers, or what it’s supposed to mean to be He-Man, or something like that.” 

Keldor massaged his backside where he hit the floor and pouted at her. “I’m pretty sure ‘Legendary Hero’ doesn’t come with a pamphlet and a job description.”

“No.” Lyn agreed. “Probably not. But there’s usually an ancient scroll, or a chiseled tablet, or something that gives a basic outline.”

…

In every other universe Keldor visited during his pursuit across the multiverse, Castle Grayskull was a squat, dingy fortress made of gray or brown stone, with the façade carved to look like a skull surrounding the main gate or ‘jawbridge’. Here, on his home version of Eternia, Castle Hellskull was actually quite beautiful by comparison. 

No dark stone, no dingy layer of dust or dirt, no overtly sinister carvings or architecture. Castle Hellskull was made of white stone and crystal, and it shined from an internal light. The crystals giving the white stone an ethereal glow. The front and entrance was still carved with the façade of a face, but instead of a bare-bone skull, the façade of Castle Hellskull was a face with angelic features and wings in place of ears. All of it illuminated by shafts of the glowing crystal. The only mildly unsettling detail about Castle Hellskull’s appearance was that the mouth of the angelic face was still the jawbridge, and because of that, the open gate gave the impression that the angel was screaming. 

But aside from that, Castle Hellskull was actually quite lovely. 

Keldor and Lyn dismounted from Panthor. 

Drawing his Power Sword, Keldor used it to unlock and lower the jawbridge, just as he saw multiple He-Men do with their own Castles in their own universes. It made the absolute worst, unnerving, blood-curdling creaking sound at the mouth of the castle opened. Not just a unpleasant scrape of metal against metal, but something more powerful. Like magic raking across an opposing kind of magic. 

It made both Keldor and Evelyn wince, and Panthor’s ears fold back against the sides of his head. 

“Is it supposed to make that sound?” Lyn asked, hands over her ears. 

“Maybe it just needs a bit of lube.” Keldor suggested. He still stepped cautiously onto the jawbridge, expecting booby-traps left over from the Evil Warriors with every step. 

“Or maybe it’s infused with negative energy.” She was not amused. 

Inside the castle was dimly lit, bordering on dark. The entryway from the jawbridge leading into a short corridor. From the corridor they found the main hall containing the throne room. In multiple parallel Eternias it was the sorceress that sat on the throne of Castle Grayskull, a couple times He-Man, in one universe Skeletor. 

Currently, their own Eternia did not have a Sorceress of Castle Hellskull, nor did they have a Skeletor, and Keldor –the current He-man- had no interest in sitting on a throne of any kind. So that was going to remain vacant. 

In the center of the throne room was a wide basin filled with what appeared to be water. It was the enchanted reflecting pool. Keldor remembered seeing Randor and his forces advancing on the castle reflected in its waters when he first returned from his journey across the multiverse. Keldor was by no means an expert on magical Castle lore, what he did know was only gleaned in passing on his journey across the multiverse, and he didn’t know if what held true on other Eternia’s would hold true on his own. But he assumed that –if he actually knew how- he could call up any location on Eternia with the reflecting pool. 

Stepping up to the edge of the basin, Keldor looked at his own reflection staring back at him from the dark water. 

“What’s Randor doing right now?” He asked the pool. 

Keldor wasn’t actually expecting the magical pool to respond. He didn’t know what he did or didn’t do to get the pool to show him anything before. He assumed it had to do with the fact that he was He-Man (although he wasn’t He-Man yet at the time), and every He-Man was connected to his Castle. But he didn’t know how the connections worked, and he was not a competent enough magic student to be invoking ancient wells of power unsupervised. 

“What’d you say?” Lyn looked up from where she was inspecting the throne. 

“Nothing.” Keldor called over his shoulder. 

He was about to turn away from the pool when the water rippled for no perceivable reason. Three ripples starting at the brim of the basin and working their way inward. Where they converged in the center an image formed. Distorted at first because the water was moving, but as it stilled it became clearer that it was, indeed, King Randor. Sitting at his desk, in his study. Trap Jaw standing next to him holding an open folder. The desk piled with stacks of papers, Randor’s lips moving as he read. He always moved his lips when he was stressed. Ruling a planet that was fresh from a war, devastated, and trying to pick itself back up again was stressful. 

“Now, show me Red Beast.” Keldor told the water. 

The pool rippled again. Randor at his desk blurring and being replaced by a wide view of the palace training yard in Eternos. Red was grappling with Tri-Klops and Stratos. The three of them seemed fairly equally matched and the spar appeared to end in a draw. The three of them shook hands to congratulate each other on a good practice. Keldor noted that when Stratos walked out of the circle to get some water, the other warriors and off-duty palace guards moved away from him. 

Stratos was one of the many corrupted by the negative energy of anti-Truth. They filled the ranks of Anti-He-Man’s army and ravaged the planet. It was understandable that those that were counted among Anti-He-Man’s Evil Warriors would be distrusted. That was probably why Stratos hadn’t gone home to Avion in the Mystic Mountains. 

“Now, Man-at-Arms.” Then Keldor remembered that Man-at-Arms was a title and with magic you had to be more specific than that. “Uh, Duncan.” 

The water rippled again. The image blurred again. And the wide view of the training yard was replaced with a narrow view of Duncan, running a hand through red hair that was streaked with gray. His helmet on the floor next to him. He was bent over a work table, opposite Mekaneck. They both appeared to be examining the same deconstructed part of a… something. Keldor wasn’t really a tech guy. Part of an engine? A sky-speeder, maybe?

“How about Orko?” Was Keldor’s next request. 

Another shift on the surface of the water. Another scene change in its reflection. 

Orko hovered in the gardens, in a wash of sunlight, surrounded by flowers, but otherwise completely alone. Performing his magic tricks for an audience of no one. It looked like Stratos was not the only one of Anti-He-Man’s forces that no one wanted to be around now. 

Keldor cast his brain around for someone else for the pool to show him. “What about Teela?”

“What are you doing?” Lyn came up beside him. “This castle is full of very old, and very powerful magic. It’s not something to be taken lightly and definitely not something a novice like you should be playing around with.”

Keldor understood that. He had, in fact, entered a nether dimension filled with eldritch horrors from a door in this very castle. He understood much, much, much better than Lyn gave him credit for, just how dangerous old and powerful magics, and this castle specifically could be. 

That still didn’t stop him from flicking his hair over his shoulder, flashing her an asymmetrical grin, and saying, “Aw, it’s just a bit of fun. Did you know Randor still moves his lips when he reads? Like a little kid!”

“Speaking of little kids, why are you looking at Teela?” Lyn demanded. 

“Huh?” Keldor looked back down at the pool. “Oh.”

While he was talking to Lyn the image reflected on the surface had changed to his last request of Teela. Teela had been sixteen when Adam became Anti-He-Man and started the Years Long War. That war was over now, and –as the name would imply- years had passed. Teela was now nineteen. Hardly a little kid. But Lyn was right. She was still young enough to be Keldor’s daughter. Lyn walking up to see him apparently spying on her without context did make him seem like some kind of scoundrel. 

Teela was at her post as a palace guard. A regular guard. Basic-level grunt. She no longer held her position of facsimile of a parade rest. Feet slightly parted, one arm resting behind her back, the other holding her serpent-head staff. Her eyes looking out over the city, watching the people go about their business, and taking note of any that came near the palace walls. Teela was a good soldier, and –on other Eternias in other universes- she was much, much more than a mere soldier. 

“Ya know, on a lot of other Eternia’s Teela was the Sorceress of Grayskull.” Keldor informed Lyn. “What would you think if I offered her the job of Sorceress of Castle Hellskull?”

Lyn just stared at him for a moment. Leveling her eyes at him with an expression that seemed to ask, ‘are you stupid?’ She crossed her arms and waited for him to come to whatever conclusion she’d already drawn on his own. When all Keldor did was just stare back at her in confusion, Lyn finally replied. 

“You wanna take a girl who’s young, has never studied sorcery a day in her life, was corrupted by negative energy and might suffer from lasting affects we haven’t seen yet, and is probably traumatized because of it; and put her in charge of one of the oldest and most dangerous magical power sources in all of Eternia.” She summarized. “And you think this is… a good idea?”

“Well, not when you say it like that!” Keldor agreed. He shifted his body and pointed down at the reflecting pool again. “But look at her. Poor girl’s miserable being a low-level soldier again. She used to be an officer with a title, and privileges, and access to a Prince. You remember seeing her walking the halls with Adam. They both looked so happy. Now look at her. She looks almost dead inside.”

Lyn did lean over the reflecting pool to get a clearer look at the view of Teela the magical basin was showing them. Her eyes were facing down, looking at the city. Her expression was neutral, as a soldier should be. Lyn was unimpressed and shrugged. “She looks fine to me.”

Looking back at the reflection, Keldor had to admit, okay. Teela did not look like she was particularly suffering. However, it was still a stark contrast from how she used to look frolicking through the palace with Adam. Teela might be young, but she was the kind of person who needed a purpose to function. It was actually one of the reasons why her adopted father, Duncan, gave his permission for her to enlist as a palace guard so young. 

But her old job –protecting the Crown Prince Adam- was gone and Teela was without purpose. 

But, Lyn did make some good points. Teela was only nineteen, barely an adult and still very much a child in the eyes of many of her working peers. She was one of the ones corrupted by anti-Truth and while that corruption had been exorcised from her, it was too soon to tell if the negative energies left any lasting effects. The whole ordeal in and of itself was traumatizing and no-one yet knew what triggers the those freshly purified might have. Just bringing her to Castle Hellskull could be enough to cause Teela to have a breakdown. 

“Also,” Lyn added one final point, “what makes you think you have any kind of authority to just be handing out jobs of Sorceress of Castle Hellskull at all?”

“Oh. Well. I just assumed.” Keldor had to confess. He didn’t know enough to be sure. “I mean, I am He-Man and Hellskull is He-Man’s source of power. And the castle does respond to my authority. At least a little. Watch!” He turned his attention back to the reflecting pool. “Show us something from last night.”

The water rippled, the image of Teela distorting and being replaced with a scene of Keldor’s bedroom. Red Beast on his belly snoring loudly, Lyn laying on her side, one hand resting on his butt, and Keldor slipping out of bed on Red’s other side. Taking a pillow from the head of the bed and replacing it in the space he just vacated. In his sleep, Red grabbed the pillow and cuddled it tight to his chest. Keldor –as quietly as possible- putting together a bag of paint cans and a tarp. Then motioning for Panthor to follow him and exiting the room. 

“Well, I was actually hoping for what we were doing together before that.” He informed the castle. “But good enough.” To Lyn he said, “See? I do have some control here.”

“Okay.” Lyn nodded, agreeing that it did seem like He-Man held some kind of authority within Castle Hellskull (however small). “You have some control over this place. But you’re also thirty-four years old, have actually studied magic before even if you’re bad at it, and have a very strong will of your own –even if you use it for frivolities. That’s very different from a teenagers who’s never studied magic a day in her life, went through a trauma recently, and is probably emotionally vulnerable.”

“Okay, okay.” Keldor held his arms up in defeat. “Teela as Sorceress is a bad idea. I won’t bring it up again.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * If anyone knows the name of Teela's unicorn, please let me know because I couldn't find a name on the wiki. If it doesn't have a name in canon, I'm just gonna stick with the name I gave it. 
> 
> * Thanks to the 2002 He-Man series, the Gar are a Japanese-coded fantasy race. Only a little of that coding is used in this chapter, but as I write and post more of this series I'm gonna start to go ham on that and let my inner weeb run free. You have been warned.

It was nearing the end of Teela’s shift when Prince Keldor and Evelyn, astride his Dylinx, rode up to the palace gate. 

“He~ey! I’m home!” He shouted up at the gate with that asymmetrical half-skull smile of his. 

Teela waved at the guards posted at the gate mechanisms. “It’s the Prince. Open the gate.”

“You don’t give us orders, Grunt!” One of them shouted back at her. “You’re not a Captain anymore!”

The other at the gate mechanisms pull on their arm, shushing them and whispering in their ear. 

Teela was too far away to actually hear. But she didn’t have to. It was enough just to know that the other guards –her peers- were talking about her and probably spreading rumors. And that they didn’t even respect her enough to hide it from her. 

They did open the gate though. That was still their Prince asking to be let in. Teela giving the order didn’t change that. 

She focused her eyes forward and tried to ignore the other guards on the wall. It was near the end of her shift anyway. All she had to do was get though the next few minutes and she could return to her room where she could eat lone, read alone, sit alone, and be alone. …with her thoughts. 

Teela was in her own room, peeling off her boots, her feet killing her when her father walked in. 

Duncan removed his helmet and stood awkwardly. 

“Did we have a family dinner I forgot about, or something?” She asked. 

Since returning to Eternos, Duncan had been spending most of his evening meals with the King. Either serving in the capacity of Man-at-Arms while the King took his meals in his office. Or else, as Duncan, Randor’s childhood best friend as they shared a meal and talked about whatever it was old friends whom had been estranged but were now reunited talked about. 

Because Teela spent her days on guard duty, and Duncan spent his evenings with the King, the two never seemed to have time to just sit together and be a family. 

“No…” Duncan admitted. “I mean, we could share a meal if you wanted. I know I haven’t been the most attentive parent of late and that’s on me.”

“I understand that the King had been making demands on your time.” Teela assured him. 

Randor was her father’s best friend, and Randor wasn’t as gentle and forgiving as he used to be before Adam was corrupted and subsequently lost. Now King Randor was hard-hearted and business-cold. Only caring about ruling his planet and making sure it recovered from Anti-He-Man’s ravages. Which was very important! They all wanted Eternia to recover. But the King’s efforts often came at an expense to those around him. Like Duncan’s time with his daughter. 

“How are you doing?” He asked. “Adjusting well? I know it must be difficult going back to being a private ranked soldier when you used to be a Captain with privileges and access to the royal family.” 

It was more than just adjusting to the change in job description and responsibilities. Teela thought about how her fellow guards didn’t respect her, talked about her behind her back, how the servants were hesitant to approach her and acted skittish around her. She thought about how she couldn’t even eat meat without her stomach turning. Teela’s difficulties were more than just a job change. 

“I’m managing.” She assured her father, stretching an imposter of a smile over her face. She was going to reassuring. It probably didn’t look very reassuring because Duncan’s expression fell. 

“I want you to do more than just manage.” He informed her. “If I were better-“

“You’re fine, father.” Teela assured him. “I understand that the King makes demands on your time, and- and I was Adam’s protector. It was my job to keep him safe. I should have been able to stop him from becoming Anti-He-Man. But I didn’t, and instead I joined him. I- I shouldn’t even have been let back into the palace. I can’t complain about the favor I’ve been shown.”

“Teela, that’s not it at all!” Duncan cried, offended on his daughter’s behalf. 

But he didn’t have anything reassuring prepared to follow up that statement with, so he let the subject drop. 

Duncan cleared his throat. “But I actually have come on behalf of the King.” He finally said. “Randor has a job for you.”

“For me?” Teela tilted her head, side-eyeing him skeptically. 

“That is, if you’re ready to start accepting responsibilities and orders given directly by the King, again.” Duncan added. If she wasn’t ready, he wouldn’t make her and he would march right back to the King and tell Randor that he would not allow him to put that kind of pressure on his little girl. 

Teela jumped to her feet. “Yes. I’m ready! I can take orders from the King!”

She was about to dash from the room before her father, then remembered that she wasn’t wearing shoes and doubled back to pull her boots back on. 

Duncan had to hide a smile behind his hand. Teela might be a seasoned warrior and former officer of the royal guard. But she was still, in many ways, just a child and his baby girl. Not that Duncan would ever tell her to her face. If he did, Teela would take all her seasoned warrior experience and put him flat on his back like the over-the-hill old man he was. 

Replacing his helmet on his head, Duncan lead Teela through the halls to the King’s office. 

King Randor might sit on his throne for petitions, but he did not rule from his throne. Randor ruled from a desk. A desk that was so piled with papers that Teela didn’t see him at first. Just a wall of documents, and Prince Keldor standing in front of it being reprimanded like a child instead of the thirty-four year old adult that he was. 

“…you’re out all day and no one knows where you’ve gone!” Randor’s voice was issuing from behind his desk.

Tri-Klops and Trap Jaw stood on either side, trying to look as stoic as possible while the King reprimanded his brother. 

“Lyn and Panthor were with me.” Keldor cut in. 

“That is not the point, Keldor!” Randor roared, standing from his desk so that Teela could see that he was red-faced with anger yelling at his brother. “I am trying to put our planet back together. Our resources are limited and my warriors are tired. I cannot have my younger brother making things worse by running off to who knows where? What if you were injured while outside the city? What if you were kidnapped by bandits?”

“Well, we know you wouldn’t pay a ransom.” Keldro laughed. “Not to get me back. You might even offer to pay to get them to keep me!” 

“Keldor, is it possible for you to be serious for five minutes?” Randor’s voice sounded so tired when he asked that. Teela wouldn’t call it pleading, a King did not beg. But it was definitely in the same genre. 

He massaged the side of his head with one hand, rubbing hard circles into his temple. With the other hand, he took a sip from a misshapen clay mug that was painted pink and white and had ‘Eternias Best Dad’ written on it in yellow. Teela couldn’t remember which of his children had made that for him, Adam or Adora. It could have been either one, honestly. But it broke Teela’s heart a little bit to see him still using it when both of his twins were gone. 

“Keldor,” Randor groaned, “we have lost so much ground since Anti-He-Man and are only just now gaining it back. You are utterly useless to me in every way but, you’re still my baby brother. I will not lose you too.”

“Okay, so what I’m hearing is next time I go out, full escort. Like, thirty guards, gotta make sure they’re the extra trigger-happy ones, and maybe a Wind Raider.”

Randor put his mug down and added his second hand to massaging his head. Prince Keldor was nothing but a source of headaches for the King. “Just don’t leave the city.” He groaned. “You’re dismissed.”

Keldor turned to leave and Teela got another good look at his half-skull face. The pale bone, slightly yellowish in color, ‘ivory’ would be a better descriptor. Scraped clean of soft tissue, a surprisingly high forehead under the hairline, sharp cheekbones, straight teeth set in the exposed jaw. Most people probably found Prince Keldor’s half-skull face to be unsettling. It was a ‘face of death’. But Teela found it to be… unfinished. A project abandoned when the subject took a different turn. Made a different decision. Realized a different destiny. 

But, Teela found herself asking, not for the first time; if the destiny Prince Keldor realized wasn’t to become Skeletor, then what had he become?

“And stop tagging city buildings!” Randor shouted at his brother’s retreating back. More of an after-thought than an actual command. 

Keldor shut the office door behind him without replying to his brother’s last order.

Randor sighed again and took another sip from his coffee mug. 

Then sat back down, disappearing behind his wall of paperwork again. Teela could just barely see the top of his crown above the pages. There was another audible sigh. 

“Teela, step forward.” The King’s voice issued from behind the stacks of documents, more calm than when he was speaking with his brother. 

She approached the desk until Tri-Klops made a subtle hand motion to indicate that that was far enough. Teela stood at attention and saluted. 

The only sound was the scratching of a pen as Randor sighed something. 

The paper was passed to Trap-Jaw whom held an open folder full of similarly signed documents by the King. 

Teela waited. 

“Do you know why I asked for you?” Randor finally addressed Teela. 

“You have a special assignment for me.” Teela nodded, holding her chin high. She used to be the personal body guard for the King’s son. She was talented and skilled. A prodigy. She was wasted as a simple grunt soldier and wall guard. 

Randor did not confirm this statement, instead he made one of his own. “You have past experience with He-Man.”

Teela suddenly found herself chewing on her bottom lip. “I do.” She admitted. “But so does my father.” She added. “So does Orko, and Mekaneck, and Stratos, and half a dozen other people in this palace.” 

“Perhaps I should re-phrase.” Randor passed another document to Trap Jaw to be added to the folder. “You have intimate knowledge of the previous He-Man. You know not only who he is –was- but also how he became He-Man, among other things.”

Teela was feeling extremely put on the spot and she realized a little too late that this was why her father wanted to make sure she was ready before giving her this assignment. Teela didn’t just know who the previous He-Man was and how he became He-Man (and Anti-He-Man after that). She was close to him. Friends with him. She… liked him. In the way that teenaged girls likes teenaged boys. Teela had been more than just Adam’s protector. If he had never become He-Man and things had been allowed to progress naturally, Teela might have been-

But Adam was corrupted by the negative energy of anti-Truth and it cost him his life and it cost Teela her Adam. 

She cleared her throat, finding it inexplicably tight and hard to speak. “Is that relevant, Your Grace?”

“Only so far as it has afforded you knowledge that the others do not have.” Randor assured her. “Anti-He-Man is gone, but a new He-Man has appeared. Thus far, he doesn’t seem to be picking up where the previous He-Man left off. But, as we all know, situations change. I want you to use the insider knowledge you already have to find out who the new He-Man is. Bring him before me so I can decide whether or not he’s a danger to Eternia.”

Teela stared at the pile of papers in front of the King’s head. Did- did he want her to become some kind of ‘He-Man hunter’? 

She turned to her father to gauge his opinion of the King sending his daughter out to track and apprehend a person described as ‘the most powerful man in the universe’. But Duncan’s expression was impossible to read under his Man-at-Arms helmet. 

Teela chewed on her bottom lip, unsure if she even wanted to get involved with another He-Man. 

She wanted her old rank back, but she wanted it back because she wanted the respect that went along with it. Working as the King’s agent and answering directly to him would give that back to her. But she was turned into an absolute monster the last time she got close to a He-Man. Did she want to risk her status and her sanity on a new He-Man?

Maybe if that He-Man were Adam. She would be willing to risk it all for Adam. 

But this new He-Man wasn’t Adam. 

With a despondent sigh, Teela shook her head, unsure if the King could even see the motion over his pile of papers. “I’m sorry, Your Grace, but I just can’t get mixed up with another He-Man.”

She was involved with Adam, and Adam was He-Man, but Teela was not involved with He-Man. …and she didn’t want to be. 

At first, Randor didn’t respond. Just continued to scratch his signature onto more documents. Teela was unsure if he even heard her. 

Finally, “You have to decide what’s best for yourself. I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. Trap Jaw-“

“Not all Gar know each other, Your Grace.” Trap Jaw announced, assuming the King was about to task him with finding the new He-Man instead. It was not an absurd assumption to make. Trap Jaw was a Gar, and the new He-Man was a Gar. 

Randor stood again, peering over the stacks of papers at his lieutenant. “I was going to say, ‘Trap Jaw, make sure those dispatches go out before the end of the day’. The outlying villages need grain.”

“Oh. Right. Of course, Your Grace.” Trap Jaw snapped shut the file he’d been holding for the entirety of the meeting. Dispatch and distribution orders for portions of the city’s grain and rice stores to be divided up and shared with the less fortunate townships and settlements of Eternia. 

Trap Jaw tapped the folder to make sure all the papers laid flat inside, then left. 

“Teela, you’re dismissed.” Randor added as if suddenly remembering that she was still there. Then sat back down behind his desk and selected another document from the top of the stack to read. 

Feeling like she’d been shunted to the side after being specially summoned, Teela did a perfectly practiced salute and about face, then marched out of the office. 

Man-at-Arms followed after her. 

He waited until they were a bit of a ways down the corridor and heading away from the office before speaking. 

“I’m proud of you.” Duncan announced. “Knowing your limits and when you’re not ready to take on new responsibilities is important. I’m glad you’re taking the time you need to heal.”

“I’m not injured, father.” Teela snapped at him. 

He took his helmet off, running a hand through his red hair streaked with gray. “I’m not injured either. I still refused when Ran asked me.”

Teela stopped walking and turned to gape at her father. “He asked you?”

“He asked me first.” Duncan nodded. “But-“ a heavy sigh “-I donno, I was the one who took Adam to Castle Hellskull in the first place. If it wasn’t for me he never would have found the Power Sword and become He-Man, and he never would have discovered anti-Truth and become Anti-He-Man. I feel like…” he looked both ways, making sure they were truly alone in the corridor, “I feel like maybe I created Anti-He-Man. I can’t risk turning this one evil too.”

“I don’t wanna be the one who turns evil again, father.” Teela confessed. 

“I don’t want you to either.” Duncan agreed. Then sighed. “I guess Ran will just keep going down the list until he gets to someone who will do it.”

Teela got the sudden mental image of tiny little Orko, decked out in bounty hunter armor, challenging the new Gar He-Man who was four times the Trollan’s size. Teela couldn’t help the giggle that bubbled up from her belly at the idea. 

Then an entirely different idea occurred to her. “What if the King’s going about this all wrong?” She suggested. “What if it’s not He-Man we should be investigating, but Castle Hellskull instead. After all, didn’t Adam get his Power Sword from Hellskull in the first place? And Castle Hellskull used to have that Sorceress guarding it until- until we- I- until Hellskull didn’t have her anymore.”

At the mention of the late Sorceress of Castle Hellskull, Duncan’s expression changed. Contorting into so many mixed emotions Teela couldn’t read it. Guilt, and horror, and fear. He looked tortured. 

Duncan stopped walking and placed a strong hand on his daughter’s shoulder, turning her to look at him. “I don’t want you going to Castle Hellskull.”

“But if it’s the source of He-Man’s power then-“ Teela began to argue. 

“No.” Duncan cut off whatever perfectly reasonable statement she was going to make. “I don’t want you going to Castle Hellskull. I don’t want you poking around there. I don’t want you searching through its halls, or in its rooms. The only information you can find there, Teela, are things that will hurt you.”

Teela assumed this was in reference to the fact that she cooked and ate the Sorceress of Hellskull while she was Anti-Teela. That the only things she would find at Hellskull were reminders of how evil she was. 

But Teela already knew how evil she was. She woke up sick with the knowledge every day. 

“Thank you for the warning, father.” She brushed his hand off her shoulder. “As I already told the King, I will not be investigating He-Man.”

But after seeing how strongly her father wanted to dissuade her from investigating Hellskull, Teela resolved that that was something she had to do. 

Her shift was already over. She was off duty. She could even go now. As soon as she was free of her father. 

“Did you wanna have dinner together, father?” She asked. 

“I’d love to!” Duncan assured her. “But I can’t. I actually have to get back to Ran. Putting Eternia back together is a tough job and he needs all the help he can get.”

“I understand.” Teela nodded. “Please remember to eat something other than coffee.”

They hugged. 

Duncan placed his helmet back over his head and headed back to Randor’s office. 

Teela waited until she heard the door shut behind him. Then she sprinted down the corridor heading for the stables and her mount, a unicorn she never got around to giving a name. Teela called her ‘Sword Horse’ or sometimes just ‘Horse’. 

Horse was happy to see her. Sword Horse was not corrupted by anti-Truth along with Teela, and during the interim years of the war, Horse was kept confined to the stables. She was only taken out a few times to be lead around the paddock to maintain her health. Horse had not actually been ridden in years. 

“Hey, girl, sorry it’s been a while.” Teela cooed and stroked the unicorn’s main. 

Horse gave a dry snort and clopped a hoof against the dirt floor to let Teela know exactly what she thought of her rider joining the side of evil and terrorizing the planet. 

“I know. I know. But I’m back now.” Teela insisted. “And we’re gonna go on an adventure.”

The unicorn gave another dry snort, this one of skepticism. 

“I promise a bucket of carrots when we get back.” Teela bargained. She could swipe some carrots from the kitchens. 

Sword Horse appeared to consider the deal for a moment. Before giving an equine nod and allowing herself to be saddled. 

The ride to Castle Hellskull wasn’t long. But it was already getting dark by the time Teela left Eternos. It was dead of night by the time she reached the sparkling white structure. 

All white stone, illuminated by glowing crystal. The front of the fortresses carved with a façade shaped like an angelic face with wings for ears. It would have looked lovely. If it weren’t for the fact that the entrance to the castle was the face’s mouth, and so Castle Hellskull looked like an angel screaming in agony. 

When she was Anti-Teela, she found it amusing. 

Now that she was herself again, Teela thought the jawbridge and the castle itself were just downright unnerving and uncomfortable. 

But she came to the castle for answers and a little unsettling architecture was not going to stop her. 

Before, Adam- uh, before, He-Man always opened the castle for them. Inserting his sword into the jawbridge to unlock it. Teela had no Power Sword, and so had no idea how to actually get inside Castle Hellskull. 

She walked right up to the edge of the chasm in front of the castle and examined the mechanism of the jawbridge. There was the large slot in which the Power Sword was meant to be inserted. But not much else. No combination lock or other mechanism for a person not carrying a Power Sword to use to get in. If the castle still had a Sorceress, the Sorceress could lower the jawbridge and let people in from the inside. 

But Teela ate the Sorceress. 

Heaving a heavy sigh, Teela placed her hand on the mechanism. 

Maybe this was a dumb idea. Maybe she should have just stayed at the palace, had a mediocre dinner that she could only eat half of, and gone to bed. Then started the whole routine over again in the morning. Climbing the ladder slowly with the hope of putting the shame of Anti-Teela behind her and regaining her old position and respect. 

She was about to leave, when her hand on the mechanism felt something. 

A slight warming of the stone. Not like it was warmed only because her hand was on it. It was too warm for it to be just that. It was more like the warmth of another hand holding hers. The warmth of another person. Prodding, but gentle. Almost maternal. 

Teela raised her eyes back to the castle. 

For half a second, she thought she saw a silhouette in one of the eyes. The shaped of a woman looking out at her. 

But then the jawbridge creaked open, letting loose a screeching, blood curdling scream. It startled Sword Horse and made Teela jump at the sound. It never seemed to bother her when she was Anti-Teela, but as regular Teela that tortured shriek of the jawbridge was downright terrifying. 

When Teela looked back up at the castle, the silhouette was gone. 

With Sword Horse on a lead, she and her unicorn crossed the bridge together. 

The interior of Castle Hellskull was exactly how Teela remembered it. Dark and cavernous. She found the throne room easily enough. Passed by the reflecting pool with its still and empty waters. She stepped up onto the dais and ran a hand over one of the arm rests of the throne. Remembering Adam- remembering Anti-He-Man sitting in it. Holding his dark Power Sword in one hand, blade down, the other hand a fist resting on the arm rest. 

Teela didn’t miss Anti-He-Man, but she did miss Adam. She was just starting to realize how much she liked him when he became Anti-He-Man. 

But Anti-He-Man was not who he was. Anti-He-Man was not the Adam that Teela missed. 

She turned from the throne and continued her search of the castle. 

Teela climbed the right tower and found the area they had previously decided was the late Sorceress’ living quarters. There was a den with stuffed armchairs and a couch surrounding a coffee table. The stone floors covered in throw rugs to stave off the cold. 

Beyond the den was a bedroom with a four poster bed, with more pillows than any one person could ever need. A bedside table piled with books, a reading light, and a single face-down picture frame. 

Teela sat on the edge of the bed, feeling like she was intruding on this woman’s privacy somehow. This woman that she killed and ate. Teela was now invading her privacy. What privacy did a dead woman have?

Picking up one of the books on the bedside table, Teela read the title. It was a trashy romance novel. 

“Ugh.” Teela made an audible sound of disgust. 

She tossed the book back on top of the stack on the bedside table and picked up the picture frame instead. 

The photograph inside it was faded. Probably close to twenty years old. It was a picture of a baby. Probably newborn, or close to new born. Did the late Sorceress have a child? Did they kill a mother? They never found any children within Hellskull. Perhaps this was the Sorceress’ niece or nephew, or something like that. Some kind of distance relation she was sent a photo of. 

Teela replaced the frame face-down, exactly as she found it. 

She stood back up. Invading the privacy of a dead woman yielded no answers to the source of He-Man’s power or the importance of Castle Hellskull. It was stupid of her to come here. What a wasted trip. She should have just listened to her father and not come at all. The only things that were here were reminders of how terrible she’d been. 

Coming back down from the tower, Teela was going to just leave. Until she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned and just barely caught the silhouette of a woman in a feather cape dashing down some stairs. 

“Wait!” Teela was about to follow the specter, but hesitated. 

Those stairs lead down into the bowels of the castle. Where Anti-He-Man took her to show her the Orb of Horrors, and where the gateway to the eldritch dimension was. It was dangerous to go dashing through the depth of Castle Hellskull not knowing where you were going. Especially if you were following mysterious spectral silhouettes that you weren’t yet sure if they were malicious, benevolent, or just ambivalent. 

But, Teela wasn’t gonna get any kind of answers just standing there doing nothing, or if she left all together. 

Taking a deep breath, hefting her serpent staff in one hand, Teela followed the figure down the stairs. 

Then the ground dropped out from under her and everything went dark.

…

Keldor was holding his boots, sneaking out of the bedroom to go work on his mural again. It was so close to being complete and Keldor wanted to at least finish it before Randor found it and had it painted over. 

But he paused when he saw a weird glowing under his bed. 

Setting his boots down, he reached under the bed and pulled out the Power Sword. 

“What the heck is going on with you now?” He asked allowed, as if the Sword had any conceivable way of answering. 

Actually, the Sword did have a way of answering. The hilt flicked, colors blurring on the polished metal not unlike the reflecting pool in the throne room of Castle Hellskull. A mini-reflecting pool of sorts. 

It showed him the exterior of Castle Hellskull, the jawbridge down, and Keldro specifically remembered locking up before they left earlier that day. Lyn made a big deal about it and Panthor wouldn’t let him mount until the stupid jawbridge was up. Now, all of a sudden, the thing was open again. 

“Is this a current image?” He asked the sword. 

In answer to this, the image reflected on the hilt blurred, shifting to a third person view of Keldor sitting on his bedroom floor holding the Power Sword. 

“Don’t get cute with me.” He growled at the magical weapon. 

Red Beast rolled over in bed and Keldor bit his tongue to keep from making another sound. He didn’t want to wake either of his lovers. 

He did wake up Panthor, whom was already expecting to take Keldor out painting, and together the two of them rode back out to Castle Hellskull to investigate the intruder. 

…

The ground dropped out from under her and everything went dark. Teela felt like she was falling. But the feeling lasted less than a second. When she landed, there were lights again and she appeared to still be inside Castle Hellskull. 

Except she wasn’t alone now. 

From down a corridor she heard footsteps and voices. Following them, Teela rounded a corner and found herself looking at… herself!

Herself and Adam from three years earlier, just before the war. 

Adam holding her hand and leading her through the corridors of the depth of Castle Hellskull, taking her to the chamber that held the Ord of Horrors. 

“Adam, where are you taking me?” She asked shyly. Back then she though he was just taking her to a secluded spot to kiss. Back then she was naïve. 

“There’s something I wanna show you.” Adam answered. “It’ll change your life!”

“Don’t do it!” Teela shouted at them. But it was a memory of the past and the past couldn’t be changed. She watched Adam open a door and lead her inside, and Teela heard her own blood curdling scream echo in her ears. 

Then everything went dark again, and she felt like she was falling. Longer this time. 

When her knees hit the floor, Teela was no longer in Castle Hellskull, but outside somewhere. The ground under her knees was the same kind of churt they used in the training yard at the palace in Eternos. When Teela looked up, she saw herself in the center of the training circle, grappling with another warrior.

“Her form is very polished.” Said a voice standing closer to her and Teela looked to the side to see King Randor and her father standing under the shade of an awning, assessing her spar. 

“She’s still very inexperienced.” Duncan insisted. “I know she wants to join the guard now, but I’d rather keep her in training a bit longer.”

Randor laughed. “I feel the same way about my Adora. No matter how old she gets, or how skilled of a warrior she becomes, she’ll still always be your little girl.”

“At least Adora knows she’ll never be allowed to join the guard.” Duncan insisted. “Adora is a princess.”

Randor stroked his beard. “Have you thought about placating her, old friend?”

“How do you mean?” Duncan took his eyes off Teela’s match to look at his companion. 

“Teela is a very skilled warrior and wants the opportunity to prove it in the guard.” Randor began. “My Adam is a soft boy who could use a protector willing to stand up for him against his sister.”

Duncan gave a bark of a laugh. “Has Adora been bullying Adam?”

“Not so far as they will admit to me.” Randor clarified. “But I would feel more at ease knowing Adam has someone to stand up for him. Teela might even whip him into shape while she’s at it. And, since Adam is a Prince, he’ll mostly be kept out of harm’s way as it is, so Teela will similarly be kept out of harm’s way.”

“Excuse me, what!?” Teela exclaimed at the pair. 

She tried to stomp over to them and give King Randor and her father a piece of her mind. Was she not made Adam’s bodyguard because she was the best warrior, and Randor only wanted the best protecting his son? Was she not made a Captain because she had earned it?

But when she tried to grab Randor’s arm and turn him to face her, Teela’s hand passed right through him. As if Randor were as insubstantial as a ghost. 

And perhaps he was. The ghost of a memory. The ghost of the past. A happier Randor who laughed and joked with her father, instead of the sour, bitter, angry old man that just barked orders at everyone. 

The scene faded into more darkness and Teela braced herself for the feeling of falling. 

She was indoors again when the darkness cleared. But she wasn’t inside Castle Hellskull. Instead, it was her own bedroom in the palace. She was lying in bed, with the blankets drawn up to her chin, a cold towel on her head, and her father by her bedside. Checking her temperature and measuring her breathing. 

The Teela on the bed was very young, but the Teela watching remembered this. It was the worst fever she ever had. According to her father, she almost died. It was also the first time she ever experienced her Sight. Teela never went so far as to call it a ‘Second Sight’. She never could see the future. It was not a prophetic sight. But she could see things that the average person could not. She could see auras and read their meaning. 

It only started happening after she got better from this fever. 

The sound of a chocking sob brought her back to the vision in front of her, and Teela realized that her father was crying. She had never actually seen Duncan cry before. Man-at-Arms always seemed so formidable. But he was crying now. His hands held together, as if in prayer. But Teela didn’t think her father kept any gods. 

“I’m so sorry,” he muttered to no one in particular, “your daughter is dying and I promised you I would take care of her. But I’m failing. I’m failing you and I’m failing her.”

“But I didn’t die.” Teela tried to reassure the memory. 

Then something scratched at the window glass and Duncan looked up. There was a falcon outside. A white feathered belly with blue and gold wings. Teela recognized it instantly. That was no ordinary falcon. That was the same falcon she cooked and ate right here in Castle Hellskull. That was the late Sorceress!

She watched Duncan rush to open the window and let the bird in. The falcon fluttered down to land on memory-Teela’s chest, and bent it’s head low so that it’s beak was almost touching memory-Teela’s mouth. Measuring the tiny girl’s breath. 

The falcon plucked a number of her feathers and dropped them on the blanket. Then locked eyes with Duncan. Teela could only assume the Sorceress was giving him instructions via some kind of telepathic connection, because she certainly didn’t know what was going on. But after the eye contact broke, Duncan muttered a quick ‘thank you’ before gathering up the feathers. 

He ground the Sorceress’ feathers into a fine powder then boiled them into a tea. He had to force it down memory-Teela’s throat. But by the next morning, her fever had broken. 

“What was that!?” She demanded of the memory. 

But the only answer she got was for the scene to vanish and darkness to take her again. 

…

Castle Hellskull was indeed open when Keldor returned with Panthor. The jawbridge down. Giving access to anyone who might happen by in the dead of night. 

Dismounting from Panthor, Keldor sprinted across the jawbridge, expecting to find all kinds of evil villains inside. As he was halfway across the bridge, he drew his Power Sword. Shouted as loud as he could “By the power of Grayskull!”

Light engulfed him and he transformed into He-Man. 

“I can have the power!”

But inside was not all kinds of evil villains. Inside there were not any villains at all. But one white unicorn. Looking board and disinterested. After a moment’s pause, He-Man recognized it as Teela’s unicorn that everyone just called ‘Horse’. 

“Oh.” Said He-Man. “Teela’s here?” That was odd. How’d she even get in? “You wouldn’t happen to know where she went, would you?”

The unicorn gave an unamused snort and flicked her tail. 

He-Man wasn’t sure if that was actually meant to be an answer or not, but he followed the direction of the tail flick and saw the stairs leading down into the depth of the castle. 

“Oh. That’s probably bad.” He-Man dashed down the stairs after her. 

But the moment his foot touched the bottom step, everything went dark and he felt the inexplicable sensation of falling. 

…

When Keldor hit the floor and light returned, he found himself no longer in Castle Hellskull. It looked like he was inside the main Temple of the Goddess in Eternos, and it looked like a funeral was being held. The candles with black, any reflective surfaces were covered in dark linen, and there was a body prepared for viewing and final goodbyes on the alter. 

There was a woman wearing all-white robes like a Gar in mourning, within the Gar culture, white was the color of death and mourning, as opposed to the mainlander belief of black. But the veil over her head was black lace, in keeping with the Eternos custom of widow’s hiding their faces. 

As Keldor drew closer he realized that he recognized the body on the alter. He’d been to this funeral before! That was his father, the later King Miro, prepared for viewing. 

Which meant the widow wearing the Gar robes had to be… “ _Haha-ue_?” Keldor asked unsure. What vision was Castle Hellskull trying to give him. 

Keldor tried to reach out to his mother, but before his hand could even touch her shoulder she moved away. 

“I can’t do this.” She muttered, more to herself than the body in front of her. Then fled the chamber. 

“ _Haha-ue_!” Keldor heard his own voice call after her. But he was not the one shouting. 

Keldor turned around to see a teenaged version of himself calling after his mother. He moved as if to follow her, but Randor held him back. Passing the infant he held to Marlena whom already held the other, and using both hands to grab onto his brother. 

“What am I supposed seeing here?” Keldor demanded of the memory. 

Marlena stepped around the struggling brothers to get in front of teenage-Keldor. Holding one twin in ear arm, she glared at Keldor. “Mothers are people too.” She informed him. “This has to be hard for her.”

The scene went dark again and Keldor once again felt like he was falling. 

This time when he landed and light returned, he was standing in the palace. Just inside the main gate. Watching himself walk by with a flask in his hand before he was once again grabbed by Randor, the flask yanked out of his grasp. 

“What the heck is wrong with you?” Randor demanded. “I haven’t seen you sober since father died.”

“So?” The younger Keldor argued. 

Randor looked like he was about to launch into a lecture, but the gate opened at that exact moment and Man-at-Arms entered, carrying a bundle of blankets in his arms. 

“Duncan.” Randor shoved his brother away and hid the flask behind his back. “You said you found something you wanted my help with.”

“I did.” Nodded Man-at-Arms, hefting the bundle of blankets. Then his eyes shifted to the King’s brother standing just half a step behind him and looking annoyed. “Oh. Keldor’s here too. Is he… sober?”

“Why in the world would I ever wanna be sober!?” Keldor snarled. “What’s in the sheet, Duncan? You rescue a Green Tiger cub or something?”

“Or something.” Duncan informed him. Then, to the King, “Ran, if we could talk alone?”

“Keldor, go terrorize someone else for a while.” Randor ordered before both he and Duncan moved away. 

When the two men shifted, Keldor saw, standing in the gate behind where Man-at-Arms had been Teela. She was being shown memories by Castle Hellskull as well. Their eyes met and Teela gasped. 

It was then that Keldor remembered he was still He-Man at the moment. He never untransformed before running down into the lower levels of the castle. 

“Is this one your memory or mine?” Teela asked him. 

“Um…” Was all He-Man could think of as an answer. 

There was a younger version of himself walking around, but he didn’t see a younger version of Teela. But why was the castle showing them any of this at all?

He-Man turned to watch himself reenter the palace through a servants door. He didn’t exactly remember where he went from there, but he did have a memory of waking up on the cold floor of the wine cellar with an angry Randor and a concerned porter standing over him. He-Man was pretty sure that nothing of value could be gained from following that memory. 

“It’s not my memory.” He finally concluded. 

They flowed Randor and Duncan inside. Up the stairs to the residential wing where live-in administrative staff stayed. Duncan lead Randor into his own room before finally showing him what was inside the bundle of blankets in his arms. 

Pulling a layer aside to reveal an infant. Not quite new born, but definitely only a few months old. Pink skinned and chubby cheeked with round ears, and just the lightest dusting of thin red hairs on its scalp. 

“I’ve become a dad.” Duncan announced. “And I have no idea what I’m doing. I promised the mother I’d take care of her, but I don’t know anything about babies. But you have two of your own and I figured, since you’re my best friend, I could ask you for some advice.”

“Well, first of all you’ve got her swaddled all wrong!” Without asking, Randor plucked the baby from Duncan’s arms, unwrapped and re-wrapped the blanket. Then passed her back to his friend. Her… father. “Where did she even come from? I didn’t even know you had a lover.”

“I don’t. I mean, I didn’t. The mother, we’re not lovers. I just… know her.” Duncan stumbled over an explanation, face going inexplicably red with embarrassment. “She has some very demanding responsibilities which would make raising a child impossible. And I figured since there are so many servants here to help out, and there are other children for her to play with, and lots of great tutors, and warriors for all kind of enrichment. I could raise her.”

Randor crossed his arms over his chest. “Duncan! Did you kidnap this child from her mother!?”

“No, no, no. Nothing like that. She knows I have her and she gave her permission for me to raise her.” Man-at-Arms assured his King. “I just don’t know how.”

Randor sighed. “Of course your daughter can stay with us! Don’t be absurd. This palace is meant to accommodate the staff and their families. Does she have a name?”

“The mother’s name used to be Teela-Na, so I’ve been calling her little Teela.” 

Huh. So that was why Duncan, who never had any female lover that Keldor ever knew about, suddenly just had a daughter one day. He-Man tapped a finger on his chin, feeling as though this was something he should have already known. Then again, he was drunk for most of the time immediately after his father died and his mother moved back to Anwat Gar. 

“Wait, a sec!” Said the Teela standing next to him. “My father isn’t my father? What does this mean!?”

He-Man had no answers for her. He was learning these things for the first time too. 

The floor dropped out from under them again and everything went dark. 

“Ugh. I’m getting real sick of the castle doing that.” Teela growled as light returned and they could see where they were. Or, more accurately, what they were being shown. 

Teela offered a hand to help He-Man to his feet. 

“Where are we now?” He asked, hooking a strand of ebony hair back behind a pointed blue ear. It was gonna take some getting used to, seeing a Gar as He-Man. 

Teela looked around. They were outside again. But she didn’t recognize where. Somewhere on the coast. Gulls flew overhead and there was the smell of salt in the air. 

Then an explicitly colorful curse rent the air, followed closely by a the wet impact of something large slamming against the rocks. 

Both Teela and He-Man turned to see a giant monster climbing up out of the sea. With the elongated crown of a prawn, the suckered tentacles of an octopus, and the pincer arms of a crab. Keldor recognized it, the Gar called it ‘bakemono-umi’, to the rest of Eternia, the creature was called a ‘sea demon’. It looked like the sea demon was trying to get at a nest atop the cliff. 

In the nest was a very distinctive falcon. All white belly and chest, with blue and gold wings. No ordinary falcon, it was the falcon Zoar. The Sorceress. The sea demon was trying to capture the sorceress. 

“Why doesn’t she just leave the nest!?” They heard a voice call from the waterline below. 

Looking down, Teela and He-Man recognized Mer-Man, one of the warriors of the Eternian guard. He didn’t spend much time in the city, so they weren’t all that familiar with him. Mer-Man, as his name would imply, mostly kept close to the water. Protecting the sea ports and commanding the royal navy. 

At the moment, he was trying to protect the falcon Zoar from a sea demon. With the help of-

“I don’t know!” Man-at-Arms shouted back at him. He was climbing the cliff to get to the nest and see what the real reason was that the Sorceress couldn’t leave. Was she stuck somehow? A string tied around her foot and tether to the nest? What was the problem. 

Exchanging a look and silently agreeing, both Teela and He-Man sprinted over to the nest too. They got there at the same time that Man-at-Arms did. 

Zoar was not tether to the nest by any kind of string. She wasn’t staying because she was trapped, she was staying because she was protecting something. 

A baby. 

A human baby from all outward appearances. 

New born, or close to it, but still too big for the falcon to carry on her own without her talons injuring the child. 

“Oh.” Man-at-Arms stopped short. That was not what he was expecting. That was not what he was expecting at all! 

“Is that… me!?” Teela demanded of the memory. 

“Yours?” Duncan asked the falcon. 

She gave an avian bob of the head that resembled enough of a nod for Man-at-Arms to take it as an affirmative. The baby was the Sorceress’s daughter. 

Unclasping his cape, Man-at-Arms wrapped the baby up in it. “I’ll take care of her.” He promised the Sorceress. “She’ll be safe with me. But you have to escape.”

The falcon gave another avian nod and flew away. Duncan likewise clutched the bundle in his arms close to his chest and put as much distance between himself and the coast as he could. Sea demons couldn’t climb up on land. They dried out and died. As soon as the monster realized it couldn’t get the Sorceress or her child, it would retreat back into the sea. 

Duncan looked down at the baby in his arms. “Whelp, I guess you’re my daughter now.”

The scene went dark again, and when He-Man and Teela could see again, they were once again back in the lower levels of Castle Hellskull. 

“What was that!?” Teela demanded. At first of the castle around them. Then grabbing He-Man by the silver straps of his Power Harness and bringing his face closer to hers as she continued to shout. “Is the old Sorceress my mother!? The Sorceress can’t be my mother! You cannot tell me that I- that I- I _ate_ my own mother!”

Teela pushed He-Man away and turned her back on him. She hugged her shoulders shook uncontrollably. 

“It’s not true.” She muttered to herself. “It can’t be true. If it is true, I-“

…


	4. Chapter 4

Teela would not stop trembling. 

Hugging herself and shaking. Muttering about how she cooked and ate the Sorceress in her falcon form. Gasping and choking that the Sorceress was her mother, and she ate her mother. But not crying. 

It was the lack of tears that He-Man found most concerning. 

Weren’t people supposed to cry for earth-shattering personal revelations like that?

He-Man hoisted her up into his arms, and when Teela didn’t protest, he carried her back up the stairs and out of the lower levels. He thought for a moment about taking her back to Eternos, but in the state she was in, he wasn’t sure if the long trip might make things worse. 

Instead, He-Man took her upstairs. Finding the later Sorceress’ den, he set Teela down on the couch. 

She wasn’t muttering anymore. But she was still shaking a lot, and she felt unusually cold to the touch. Shock, he realized. Teela had to be in shock. 

A quick search of the Sorceress’ bedroom, and He-Man emerged again with a blanket that he draped around her shoulders. 

“I’ll try and make some tea.” He-Man announced. 

He fled the room. He might be He-Man, but he was also still Keldor and Keldor had no idea how to take care of someone. Keldor couldn’t even take care of himself. A small host of palace servants and specialized masters of sorcery and combat took care of him. Keldor wasn’t even sure how one was supposed to make tea. 

But he was sure about one thing, Lyn was absolutely right about what she said earlier that day. He could not ask Teela to be the Sorceress of Hellskull. Not only were all of the reasons Lyn listed valid, but after learning that the former Sorceress was Teela’s mother, Keldor would be amazed if she could just hear the name ‘Hellskull’ without trembling. 

Back upstairs in the den, Teela sat in the blanket, not quite registering it around her. 

Her mother. 

The Sorceress was her mother. 

She roasted her own mother on a spit and ate her! 

Teela’s stomach turned. Her bile rising. She doubled over sitting on the couch and vomited on the throw rug. 

Doubled over, heaving onto the carpet, Teela felt a hand stroke her hair, pulling it out of her face from where it had fallen loose from the halo-braid she usually kept it in. 

The blanket was pulled up more on her back and Teela felt those same phantom hands smoothing out the fabric and running circles into her back. 

“Are you the restless ghost of the Sorceress?” She asked, not lifting her head. Face still hanging down close to the spatter of her own stomach contents on the floor. “Come to take your revenge on- on the monster that killed you?”

The motions rubbing her back paused for a moment. Then the blanket was pulled up again and tucked under Teela’s chin. Everything about it felt more like the specter was trying to comfort her, not punish her. 

Teela pulled the blanket tighter around her, feeling like she did not deserve such kind treatment from the ghost of the woman she betrayed, killed, cooked, and ate. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

Still not lifting her head, Teela saw a motion out of the corner of her eye. A figure moving just within the peripheral of her vision moving into the bedroom. There was the sound of a small clatter. 

Clutching the blanket around her, Teela stood from the sofa to investigate. What did the ghost want to torture her with now? The knowledge that she killed and ate her own mother wasn’t enough. 

Teela found the framed photo of the baby had been knocked onto the floor. She picked it up and looked at it again, this time recognizing it as herself. It was the same baby from the nest the falcon Zoar refused to leave. It was the same baby Man-at-Arms brought back to the palace in Eternos. The baby Duncan named ‘Teela’. 

Because her mother was also named Teela. 

She felt a hand on her shoulder again. 

Teela was unsure of the rules for spirits trying to communicate with the living. She only ever seemed to be able to see the specter from out the corner of her eye. The spirit seemed able to interact with physical objects, knocking over pictures and holding Teela’s hair back as she threw up. The ghost hadn’t spoken in words, but every action appeared to be gentle and comforting. 

“You’re not mad?” Teela asked of the otherwise empty room, not sure if she was talking to the specter or to herself. “You should be mad.”

The mattress sank next to her, as if something sat on the bed next to her. Out of the corner of her eye, Teela could see the figure of a woman. But when she turned her head to look, the figure disappeared. 

Pursing her lips, Teela took a breath and did the mental side-step that turned her regular sight into her extra Sight. The Sight that allowed her to see auras and read people. 

In her other Sight, Teela could see the specter sitting next to her on the bed. It was, indeed, the Sorceress of Castle Hellskull. She looked very much like the last time Teela saw her when she was alive and healthy. Before she became the prisoner of Anti-He-Man’s evil warriors. Lean figure, clad in a white mini-dress that looked like it had been woven from feathers. Long sleeves melting into a cape, also feathers in the colors of blue and gold. A headdress in the shape of a falcon’s beak covering her hair. 

Teela felt a pressure behind her eyes and knew she was about to cry. “I’m so, so, so, sorry!”

She did start to cry. 

Crying for the first time since setting foot inside Castle Hellskull. 

Arms encircled her, offering a ghostly hug and whatever comfort could be found in it. 

‘It wasn’t you.’ A voice as soft as the air itself whispered in her ear. ‘I’m not mad.’

This only made Teela cry harder. She did not deserve to be forgiven. At least, she felt she didn’t deserve to be forgiven. She couldn’t forgive herself, so how could the person she wronged forgive her? It didn’t make sense! 

She didn’t know how long she stayed on the bed, crying while the ghost of her dead mother held her. 

Eventually, He-Man returned. 

“Okay, so I don’t know how to make tea, and I don’t even actually know what tea looks like before it, ya know, made into tea.” He announced. “But I found water!”

He-Man offered Teela a mug of room temperature water. 

She took it, wiping her eyes. 

Then looked up at him, getting a clear look at the new He-Man. She’s seen him before. He showed up to save King Randor on the battlefield at least twice. But he never stopped long enough for her to actually study. 

Older than Adam had been. The He-Man transformation did make Adam look more mature. Taller, wider, more muscular. But his face still stayed a little boyish. This He-Man did not have a boyish face. The hair was black, as most Gar hair was, but it also had streaks of gray. His blue skin was of an even shade all over. Not a single freckle, blemish, or discoloration. The He-Man uniform was a little different on him too. 

While Adam wore a red cross on the chest plate of his Power Harness, this new Gar He-Man bore an X-crossed bones. The fur of the loincloth was black not brown, and there was a bit of extra armor dangling from the belt in front. 

But the oddest thing about the new He-Man was, “Wait, did you just say you don’t know how to make tea?”

“Not all Gar drink tea, okay!” He announced, sounding oddly defensive. 

There was a stereotype that the only things Gar drank were rice wine or green tea.

“This has nothing to do with that.” Teela snapped. “What kind of person over the age of ten doesn’t know how to make tea? That’s like the most basic thing!”

He-Man put his hands on his hips. “Look, I grew up being taken care of by servants. You’re lucky I even found the water.”

“I grew up with servants too. I grew up in the palace of Eternos!” Teela announced. “I still learned how to make my own tea and cook! What kind of person grows up with so many servants taking care of them that they never develop even basic skills. I mean, even King Randor makes his own coffee! What kind of parents did you have? Who even are you!?”

He-Man huffed. Huffed! Like an older brother having an argument with his bratty little sister. “Oh, c’mon. You know exactly who I am. Or, at least, you thought you knew who I was before I became He-Man. You didn’t hesitate to throw out prophesies of me becoming the ultimate Lord of Destruction.”

Teela blinked. There was only one person on all of Eternos she ever made predictions like that about. But… he couldn’t be!

She narrowed her eyes at him, allowing her vision to shift to her other Sight. 

He still remained He-Man. Tall, and wide, and muscular. Wearing that ridiculous Power Harness and loincloth. But his aura. Still mostly magenta, the color of a creative type, with a level of mischievousness. But with waves of pink, implying a depth of feeling and understanding in him, compassion, empathy, and love. Speckles of blue, the color of wisdom, healing, and calm. And the indigo of destiny. A halo of indigo, the pattern of a destiny that was fully realized. 

“Keldor!” She exclaimed. Then remembered her etiquette and the difference in their stations. “Prince Keldor! You’re Prince Keldor!”

He-Man shrugged. “I just assumed you knew. You seemed to know everything else.”

That was why Keldor’s aura seemed fully realized even though he hadn’t become a Skeletor. The Keldor of this universe was never meant to be Skeletor. The Keldor of this universe was always destined to be He-Man. 

Teela set her mug of room temperature water on the bedside table and picked up the framed photo of the baby instead. Holding it in her hands, she ran a thumb over her own chubby face. “Turns out there’s a lot I didn’t know.”

He-Man shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. He didn’t know what to say to that. 

Teela felt the spirit of the former Sorceress shift. Not leaving her, but drifting back a bit. Giving Teela and the new He-Man some space. 

“Should I become the new Sorceress of Hellskull?” Teela asked, more thinking out loud than actually asking He-Man’s thought on the matter. Now that she knew He-Man was Prince Keldor, she had a lower opinion of his thoughts. Prince Keldor was not widely known for shrewdness or practicality. 

“I’m not going to ask you to do that.” He-Man informed her. 

“You’re not asking. I’m suggesting it.” She snapped at him. Yup. That was definitely, definitely Prince Keldor under that extra height and later of muscle. Just another ditzy nobleman without a practical thought in his head. It was sometimes had to believe that he and King Randor were brothers. 

Heaving a sigh, He-Man sat down next to Teela, in the same spot the spirit of the previous Sorceress had just vacated. 

“Look, Teela, you’re just a kid.” He told her. “Adam was just a kid. You’re just kids and you’re all mixed up in some really old and really powerful ancient magics. It cost Adam his life, and I don’t know what it might cost you. I did think about asking you to be Sorceress for a bit there. After you petitioned Randor about not having your old rank anymore and you were feeling like you didn’t have a place. In a lot of the other Eternias I visited you were the Sorceress of Grayskull. So I thought you could be the Sorceress of Hellskull here. But you’re still just a kid, and those other Teelas from those other universes didn’t have the trauma that you have.”

“You mean killing and eating my own mother.” She announced. 

“Yeah… that.” He-Man twirled one of the strands of gray hair around his finger awkwardly. “Lyn told me taking a kid with trauma like yours and dumping the responsibility of an ancient power source on her was a bad idea. You’re not even technically responsible for Hellskull right now, and you were shivering and nearly catatonic after just taking a walk through the lower level.” 

It was more than just a ‘walk through the lower levels’. The castle was actively showing her memories of her past that she wasn’t all that aware of. It was showing truth and revealing secrets. Revelations that were shocking and shattered her perceptions of herself and her place in the world. 

But that was not the detail she chose to comment on. 

“Wait a second, ‘Lyn’? As in Lady Evelyn?” She asked. “Evelyn Powers knows your He-Man, but your brother doesn’t!?”

“Well, Randor would react differently than Lyn did.” He-Man brushed off the comment. 

That at least was true. King Randor would not react well to finding out that his ‘useless’ brother was secretly the ‘Most Powerful Man in the Universe’. Ooh. Teela did not want to be in the room when that secret was blown. Randor would be so angry. He might actually have a stroke. After losing his son to being He-Man, and then finding out that his baby brother was the next He-Man. Oof. 

“How many people know you’re He-Man?” She asked. 

“Four now.” He answered. “You, me, Lyn, and Red. Oh, and Panthor! He’s my Battle Panther. So I guess five.”

Evelyn Powers and Red Beast. Good. At least Prince Keldor had people with brains when knew he was He-Man. From what Teela had seen of Keldor, he needed people with brains. 

He-Man stood back up and offered a hand. “I’ll take you back to Eternos now. I can only imagine that you’d wanna rest after the series of shocks you just had.”

Teela was so wound up, she felt like sleeping was the last thing she could do right now. 

She looked behind her, searching the room for the specter of the Sorceress. She could still sense the other woman’s ghost in the castle, but she couldn’t see her. Not even out of the corner of her eye. Apparently, visiting hours were over for now. 

“Can I come back to the castle some times?” Teela asked. 

“I don’t think that’s-“

“To visit my mother.” Teela explained. “She’s- her- uh… She’s not entirely gone. I mean, her spirit is still here.”

“What, like a ghost?” He-Man looked from side to side, as if suddenly expecting phantasms to start springing from every corner. 

Of course Castle Hellskull would be haunted too. Why not!

“She’s not a vengeful ghost.” Teela assured him. If she was remembering correctly, the Gar had some pretty terrifying ghost stories. There was a culture that did not play around with the dead! “She feels sad, but not angry. She- she’s not mad at me. For what I did. I only just found out she was my mother and I- I donno, I want the chance to get to know her before she passes on.”

He-Man continued to hesitate another moment. 

“How can I say no?” He finally said. 

Was this castle even technically his? Did he have any kind of authority to forbid anyone from coming and going? If there was a spirit within the castle and the spirit wanted Teela to return, and had the power to let her in at any time, how could he even keep her out?

“You’ll be careful, though, right?” He finally said. “There’s a lot of dangerous stuff in this place and I don’t even know about most of it. This may come as a surprise to you, but I don’t actually know what I’m doing as He-Man.”

“Ya don’t say!” 

Teela could feel the walls chuckling and knew that her mother’s spirit agreed. Prince Keldor had no idea what he was doing as He-Man. 

“Don’t get cute with me, kiddo.” He-Man admonished her. “I may be knew at this whole hero thing, but I’m still your elder.”

“Yes, oh wise He-Man.” She giggled. 

Keldor quickly decided he hated being teased by children. 

“C’mon, let’s get you home.” He said again. “We stay here any later and I’ll be dropping you off for your shift on the wall. Trust me, having to do stuff during the day after being up all night, is really hard if you don’t have a couple lines of coke to get you through the day.”

“A couple what?”

“Nothing. Grown-up stuff.” He quickly amended. “Let’s get you home.”

…

He-Man changed back into Prince Keldor as they neared the city. If only give people on the whole planet knew his secret identity, it was probably best if Teela wasn’t seen riding into the city with He-Man. 

She looked at him sideways from atop her unicorn steed. Sword Horse was a bit taller than Panthor, and Teela looked down at a pointed blue ear poking up through a curtain of ebony hair. She was riding on the side with the skull-half of his face and she saw the ivory bone of his chin appear and disappear as his hair bounced with the motions of his cat. 

Keldor really was different from King Randor. It was hard to believe they were brothers some times. But then, they weren’t full brothers, were they. Keldor was Randor’s half-brother. From the late King Miro’s second wife. A Gar woman. 

“What was your mother like?” Teela found herself asking. She only recently found out her own mother was the guardian of an ancient power, after living most of her life without a mother. She didn’t really have a reference point from which to understand their relationship. 

“My mother was fine.” Keldor announced. “She was fun. I had a fun mom.”

“Oh.” Teela didn’t know what that meant. What was a ‘fun mom’? How was that different from a regular mother? “Did she leave you anything to remember her by when she died?”

“What?” Keldor looked up at her, fixing both his eye and the empty socket where an eye used to go on her. “My mother’s not dead. She just lives far away!”

That was also information Teela didn’t know. 

“By the way,” Teela added, more to change the subject than anything else, “King Randor is trying to find out your identity. I mean, He-Man’s identity. He knows He-Man has to have a secret identity because Adam used to be He-Man. He’s asking everyone who used to be one of Anti-He-Man’s Evil Warriors to hunt you because we all have ‘previous He-Man experience’.”

“That’s very proactive. Just like Randor.” Keldor scoffed, unimpressed. “Did he ask you?”

“Yes.” Teela confirmed. 

“Are you gonna turn me in?” 

“I turned down his offer.” She informed him. “At the time, I didn’t wanna get mixed up in any more He-Man drama.”

“And now you’re offering to become Sorceress of Hellskull. Talk about kids being fickle.” Keldor flicked his hair over a shoulder. “Well, if Randor does get someone to become his ‘He-Man hunter’ let me know.”

He seemed completely unconcerned. 

…

The next day, Stratos was summoned to the King’s office. 

“I noticed you haven’t made any plans to return to Avion.” Randor began. “Can I assume you plan to stay in Eternos indefinitely?”

Stratos avoided eye-contact. A lot of those that were under the influence of Anti-He-Man’s corruption tended to avoid eye-contact with Randor. He didn’t know if it was because of shame, or guilt, or defeats, any combination there of, or a result of many of them being ostracized from their peers now that they were returned. At this exact moment, Randor didn’t care. 

“I will stay where I am welcomed, for as long as you are willing to welcome me, Your Grace.” Stratos answered diplomatically. 

“Heroic Warriors are always welcome in Eternos.” Randor informed him. 

“Am I still a Heroic Warrior?” Stratos asked the King. 

“Are you?” The King just repeated his own question back at him. More of a disarming tactic than any kind of real conversation. 

“I don’t feel like a Heroic Warrior.” Stratos confessed. 

Randor moved a stack of papers to the side so that he could look at Stratos without having to get up. Steepling his fingers, Randor leaned back in his seat. “Would you like to be?”

…

END


End file.
